Taking the step
by Springerlight
Summary: Ben is injured when a mission falls through and Gwen suddenly insists to Kevin that he should tell Ben how he really feels. How can Kevin confess something he hasn't even worked out himself? How does Ben feel about it all? Bevin
1. Accident

"Ben!"

The scream echoed through the warehouse and Ben's eyes wandered unfocused toward its source. He was dangling in the air. Held above the ground by two strong hands made of stone. When his eyes finally stopped to focus on a familiar face he smiled before letting his eyes drift closed.

"Ben!" The same voices screamed again but he didn't think he had the strength to reply to it. This was supposed to be an easy mission. There was only one, weak liquid alien, but then there'd suddenly been two. He hadn't even had time to dodge as he had been snatched up by the one that had been in hiding.

It had to have been his luck that the Omnitrix had timed out soon after, leaving his human windpipe to be dealt the crushing.

His whole body ached from being slammed against the warehouses walls and pipe's and he could feel a warm liquid trickling down his left arm. The hands around his throat felt brutally tight and Ben had long since given up squirming. He'd have to apologise to Gwen and Kevin in the afterlife. He'd bragged about this one being easy.

Suddenly though, the hands were gone, and he was falling. As much as he relished the loud crack that made it's way to his ears as he landed, the feeling of being unable to breathe scared it from his mind.

In the distance he heard a harsh shriek and opened his eyes as footsteps quickly approached him.

Gwen and Kevin were standing over him now, though Gwen had knelt down into a crouch. She was giving him an extremely concerned look and Kevin, Ben couldn't quite work out what expression Kevin was giving him. A part of him felt simply grateful they were there.

Forcing air back through his lungs he gave a harsh cough and rolled onto his side. He found himself letting out an indignant moan as he was lifted and carried all the way to the car by a silent Kevin. A cold breeze brushed against his cheek and he remembered that it was now night-time.

"That was so stupid!"

Gwen's angry outburst mad his head hammer but for once Ben held his silence and let her rant. She'd been right...He'd walked right into this one. As she continued to talk Ben let his eyes slip closed. It felt unnaturally warm as he was lifted down into the car. It was like Kevin gave off his own natural source of warmth, that only Ben could feel.

"...Guess...I screwed up..."

It hadn't been a question, but as the car bumped over an uneven part of terrain he winced and his voice rose.

"It's what you do best."

If Ben had thought being bumped around in the car hurt, he now found Kevins' comment hurt even more. Nevertheless he felt arms once again encircling him and he didn't complain as he was pulled into Kevin's lap.

He found the source of comforting warmth once again return and he let his senses be completely overcome by it, a hand unconsciously curling around the side of Kevin's black shirt.

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"He asleep?"

The question jolted Kevin out of his thoughts and he glanced up from his position in the back to lock eyes with Gwen in the mirror and nod. When he tried to remember what he'd actually been thinking about he was slightly surprised that it had completely been on the Ben-Tennyson train of thought.

"He doesn't learn." Gwen commented. To Kevin's ears she sounded tired. He wasn't surprised.

They'd been looking all over town for Ben when he'd suddenly run off to beat up another 'invader' as Ben had declared it.

Kevin hated to admit it, but it was luck that they'd even found Ben in the nick of time. If they hadn't come when they had...Kevin felt a shiver run though him. The thought didn't bode well with him.

Ben seemed pathetically small curled up in his arms. Kevin found himself studying Ben repeatedly for injuries, as if spotting them would magically make them heal up. He lifted his arm up to better position himself only to find a dark substance now coated his sleeve.

"Geez Ben..." His voice sounded scared even to himself "I thought I told you that you weren't allowed to bleed all over my car."

The silence that followed the pitiful attempt at a joke was harsh and Gwen nervously glanced up at the mirror to study the pair. Kevin had now wrapped a protective arm around Ben and had shifted him so he wasn't nearly breaking his neck at some odd angle and instead it rested against Kevin's shoulder.

"You should confess when he wakes up."

Once again Kevin's eyes shot up to lock with Gwen's.

"This isn't really the time to be talking about this..."

"There won't be a better time." Gwen's voice took on a strict tone.

"You're his cousin, why would you..."

"I'm not a hundred percent sure but I do think he'll return your feelings."

Kevin swore his face had begun heating up but as Ben shifted in his lap it was instantly forgotten.

"What if I end up hurting him?"

"You won't."

They were pulling up alongside the Rustbucket now, Gwen figured it would be better to let Grandpa Max know what happened than try to explain to Ben's parents...especially since it was now almost ten pm at night.

Gwen got out first, opening the door for Kevin who was careful to get out without jolting Ben.

"You might be good for him. Maybe if he knows he has someone expecting his return he'll be less...careless in his battles."

Kevin let out a humourless laugh at this as they walked the remaining few steps to the door of the Rustbucket. "Perhaps..." he began glancing down at the brunette bundle in his arms.

A light flickered on and Max could be heard walking towards the door, having heard Gwen's knock.

"...but then it just wouldn't be Ben."


	2. A silent Ben

**Oh my, Guess I have to do something now.**

**Vaxx: scared of commitment?**

**Yes...**

**Vaxx: no point deny- you are?**

…**...*ignoring Vaxx* A big thank-you to Midesko and bree tennyson for reviewing my first chapter ^^**

**I don't own anything Ben 10 related although I'd love to~**

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The world was a small, dark, shrouded place filled with coldness. At least, that was what It felt like to Ben as he regained consciousness. The brunette found himself lying alone on the a couch that could only belong to Grandpa Max. Everything was dark and it took a while for Ben to realise that all of the Rust bucket's blinds had been pulled down.

He made an attempt to call out but a pain shot through his throat making it tighten up. He tried it again, but the pain only increased causing him to gasp out in surprise.

Not too willing to try this again Ben rose unsteadily and headed towards the small camper van's bathroom. Glancing the mirror he couldn't mask the look of surprise that came across his face. He looked like crap!

His skin had gone so pale it gave him the impression of someone who'd never been touched by the sunlight. His eyes were unfocused and as he pulled at his shirt colour he winced at the red and purple marks that ran along his neck. The more he stared, the tighter his throat felt and eventually he turned back and headed to the van's door.

Grandpa Max, Gwen and Kevin hadn't jumped him yet so he supposed they must be outside. He expected they'd still feel like lecturing him and with the way he felt, he got the inkling it might be good to listen to them.

'Don't know how long I'll remember it though..' he thought.

Opening the door the light was about twice as bright as Ben had thought it would be and walking down he missed the second step, slipping off balance.

"Careful."

A hand shot out to grab his arm and he blanched as pain laced through all his nerves. Had his throat not been so sore, Ben probably would've screamed, but as it was all that came out was a small whimper.

"Kevin! Be more careful!"

Ben glanced up as Max Tennyson approached and he felt rather than saw Kevin let go of his arm.

"Sorry, he slipped and I just-"

Max cut him off with a shake of his head "No. Never-mind."

Max continued to approach until he was standing right in front of Ben. He put a hand on his shoulder.

"We just got a flat tyre. If your still tired you should go back and rest. We'll keep it quiet out here."

It hadn't been the speech Ben was expecting, and judging from the look he was being given by his Grandfather he guessed that he'd scared him a lot more than he would've thought. He was up now though and sleeping was the last on his list of things to do.

Shaking his head in a way of saying he wasn't tired he spotted the chairs Max had set up earlier in case it took a while and walked over, taking a seat in the one closest to the Rustbucket. It was far warmer here than in inside and he let out a soft sigh. He duly noted that his left arm had been wrapped from the wrist up and under his sleeve and for a moment he simply enjoyed the warmth the sun gave.

He was interrupted when Kevin took up the chair next to him. He pretended not to notice but as Kevin's line of gaze remained trained on him he glanced in his direction, albeit annoyed.

"How're you feeling?"

'Like you pounded me with a metal bar'

He could only nod, a habit that was already annoying him.

"When your not injured you generally sleep for ages, but when you are you're always up. Are your brains fried somehow?"

'No, maybe it just hurts to much to sleep.'

There was an eerie and uncomfortable silence that the both of them felt. Ben was in no state to break it and so the duty was left to Kevin. Again.

"Gwen was worried about you."

For some reason this struck a nerve.

'I don't care that Gwen was worried, I want to know whether or not you were worried about-'

Ben was bewildered at his sudden train of thought and it must have shown on his face because Kevin shifted positions and continued talking.

"It shouldn't be that surprising. You two are cousin's after all."

Ben scrunched his face up, his nose wrinkling in slight irritation 'Wrong idea.'

"Benjy? You feeling alright?"

Ben realised he must look awkward and let his face return to normal giving Kevin only a curt nod before touching the skin on his neck. Geez, it even felt swollen.

"Does it still hurt?"

Ben could only shrug non-committally. Yeah it hurt, but he was buggered if he was doing to tell that to Kevin. Admitting his weaknesses was never something Ben was good at, but the thought of admitting them to Kevin made his stomach flip.

The silence returned but it wasn't as uncomfortable as before and Ben visibly relaxed. Soon though, the wind that was picking up made him feel somewhat queasy.

"Hey Ben..."

Kevin really had the worst timing. Ben touched his stomach.

"There's something I need to talk to you about..."

'Any time but now...' Ben thought miserably as the queasy feeling grew.

"You see I was meaning to ask..."

Ben cast Kevin a glance only to find the mineral absorbing male was looking the other way. His face paled and slowly he got up.

"I was wondering if you'd ever consider..."

Nope. He couldn't hold it.

Ignoring the look of surprise on Kevin's face as he shot off out of the chair and up the stairs inside Ben made his way to the bathroom in time to flip the toilet seat up, drop to his knees and relinquish his stomach contents into the porcelain waste bin.

His throat burned and one glance at what he'd let up made him almost do it again. An arm reached above him flushing it down and he glanced up to see Kevin watching him, a mixture of annoyance and concern etching his features.

He turned back to toilet and retched again, but this time he felt a hand pull back his overgrown fringe out of the firing line and reached for the flush this time by himself.

"...nks...Kev..."

It came out as a hoarse croak but Kevin seemed to have heard and let his bangs fall back, lending a hand to pull Ben back to his feet.

"I didn't know talking to me made you feel that bad Ben."

Kevin was joking and Ben cracked a small smile. He couldn't help colour coming to his cheeks when Kevin grinned back at him.

The sound of the engine sounded up and Ben followed Kevin out, taking a seat on one side of the table inside. When Gwen came inside almost covered completely in soot and dark stuff Ben couldn't help but make a small noise of surprise.

Gwen scowled darkly at him and he raised his hands in a sign of surrender.

"He's just curious." Kevin covered.

Gwen cleaned herself up with a cloth and sat on the other side of the table pulling her hair back. "Well he didn't just spend an hour an a half crawling around a mucky house for a nut job farmer just so we could get a new tire."

When Ben snorted Gwen sent him a glare and he made an attempt to look apologetic before glancing at a twig sticking out of her hair and breaking into a grin again.

"Geez, Ben...you're so immature."

Max returned from packing the chairs and shut the door as he walked up, taking a seat behind the wheel.

"Ben. You should eat something."

Max started up the engine and they began moving back along the deserted path. Ben didn't know where they were headed since they weren't near the city, but it didn't really matter. He liked being on 'adventures'.

"I'll make him something soft." Gwen said getting up.

Ben was surprised that Gwen sounded caring and curled more comfortably on the long seat, not noticing how close he pressed himself to Kevin.

'…Hn...suppose I'll eat something.'

Ben glanced at Kevin remembering before he'd met with the toilet god.  
"...at..were ...ou..onna...'ay?"

Ben hated how he could only get out certain sounds without his voice cracking but once again Kevin seemed to understand perfectly. This left Ben confused as Kevin's cheeks tinted the slightest hint of red.

"Ah...I was.."

Ben squirmed slightly, this time, not needing to puke. Kevin didn't seem to notice though as his mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"...I was going to ask..."

"Ben!"

At that moment Ben had been unable to hold it and had released a loud crack of gas, causing Gwen to frown in disgust and Max to slowly open one of the windows. Kevin, being closest to him wrinkled his nose and half glared down at Ben, who was smiling cheekily.

"Forget it." Kevin muttered irritably folding his arms but not moving from his position as Ben's side cushion.

Ben's smile dropped somewhat when he found Kevin looked almost, upset. It was just a fart, so why did Kevin look so, disappointed. Max turned on the radio and Gwen continued to make some murky substance Ben couldn't determine.

After a while Ben heard Kevin sigh and felt a hand mess up his hair. Kevin gave him a grin and he instantly felt himself grow warmer inside.

"That's not a fart." Kevin told him with a mock sternness. "This..."

A fart almost twice the volume of Ben's erupted and Gwen pinched her nose growling at Kevin.

"Is a fart."

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**...Okay, that was slightly immature...**

**Vaxx: Slightly?**

**Yeah...No more than slightly.**

**Vaxx: You were just stalling.**

**Nu-uh!**

**I took a day off school due to insane bullies and teachers who tell you that being bullied is what you get for being different.**

**I decided I wouldn't be slack and put this up. Hopefully my dull mind won't withhold this story's plot and you weren't all too grossed out by the immatureness of my mind.**

**Please tell me what you think and what I can to do make this better. Also Review if you can ^^ It really makes my day.**


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